Papermaker&#39;s felt



May 22, 1.951 J. P. KOESTER ET Al. y 2,554,034

PAPERMAKERS FELT Filed Aug. 18, 1948 IO IO Illlllllllll consumar-: x

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lINVENTORS JOHN P. KOESTER HAROLD S, COMER FusJO4 BYWWMEf/LA F|G.l2ATTORNEYS Patented May 22, 1951 PAPERMAKERS FELT' John. P; Koester; andHarold S. Comer, Piqua,

Ohio, assignors to The Orr Felt & Blanket Compan-y, Piqua, Ohio, acorporation of Ohio Application August 18, 1948', Serial No. 44,917

2 Claims.

This invention relates to Woven felts and particularly to felts that areused in the papermaking industry, and like industries. for supportingand carrying pulp-like materials;

Thereu .are numerous industries in which endless fab-ric belts or feltsare used to pick up a wet pulp and support it while liquid is drainedaway from the pulp through the felt. These endless belts are corn-mon.to the papermaking industry, and are also used in the manufacture ofvarious pulpboards and .asbestos boards and sheets.

The liferof these felts-is` extremely short, varying from afewhourstoafew days in an industry using highlyv abrasive pulp, such as asbestospulp and asbestos cement pulp, to a few days to a few 'Weeks in thepaperma-king industry, depending uponA thekind of paper or paper-boardthat is being produced. In anyy event, however, these endless felts mustbe replaced at regular intervals, depending upon their usage in variousindustries, and this involves a major expense in the operation of apapermaking or a boardmaking plant. Thus, it has been a constantendeavor to obtain better wearing qualities of the felts so that theywill resist physical` abrasion and chemical action.

Itis com-mon practice to use anali-wool felt in many of the pulp-usingindustries since the high grade wools give thebest resistance tophysical abrasionand areresistant to the various chemicalsl used in thepulp-using industries. However, there isa limit to the physical abrasionthat woolcan take and yet it is highly` desirable-to have wool surfaceson felts that are used to obtain a surface finish on paperor variouspulp-boards. Thus, the use of wool cannot be eliminated' in thepulp-using industries that make paper and pulp-boards;

Particularly in the industry of manufacture of asbestos cement boardsthere is an extremely severe physical abrasion problem ofthe feltsthathas not been satisfactorily overcome. While this industry involves aserious physical abrasion problem on the sur-faceof felts, yet thechemical problem isnot so acute.

Therefore; it is an object of this inventionv to provide a wovenpapermakers felt, or wet pulp handling felt wherein a non-woolnon-felting yarn'is used? in either the warp or filling system of the`woven felt, and a yarn composed in its major part of wool is usedin theother system.

More particularly, it is an object of the invention to provide awet pulphandling` felt wherein the warp system` of the wovenfel-t is a cottonyarn and the 'filling systemv of the woven felt con- 2 sists of both acotton yarn and a wool yarn that are laid in the lling system in aregular repeating pattern.

It is still another object of the invention to provide a wet pulphandling felt in `accordance with the foregoing object wherein the woolyarn forms the surface yarn of the felt on at least one side of thefelt.

It is still another object of the invention to provide a wet pulphandling felt, or a papermakers felt, in accordance with the foregoingobjects wherein the wool-containing'yarnisv substantially larger thanthe non-'wool non-.felting yarn.

These andl other objects of the invention will become apparent from thedrawings and the following description.

In the drawings:

lFigure 1 is a plan View of a woven felt constructed according to thisinvention;

Figure 2 is a Weave diagram of the felt of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a longitudinal edge View of the felt taken along line 3 3 ofFigure 1;l

Figure 4 is a transverse edge View of the felt taken along line 5 4 ofFigure 1;

Figure 5 is a plan view of another weave of a felt constructed accordingto this invention;l

Figure 6 is a weave diagram of the felt of Figure 5;

Figure '7 is a longitudinalv cross-sectionaledge view taken along line-l of Figure 5;

Figure 8 is a transverse edge view of the felt taken along line 8 8 ofFigure 5;

Figure 9 is a plan view of another Weave of a felt constructed accordingto this invention;

Figure 10v isA a weave diagram of' the felt of Figure 9;

Figure 1l is a longitudinal edge, View taken along line H-ll of Figure9;

Figure 12 isa transverse edge .view taken along line |2-l2 of Figure 9.

Figure 13v is; a cross-sectional view taken along line lS-I- ofl Fig. 1illustrating the condition of the fabric, after fulling;

Figure 14 is a cross-sectional view like; Fig.. 3, illustrating thecondition ofA the; fabric after fulling;

Fig. 15 is a cross-sectionalview. like Fig. 4, illus= trating thecondition of the fabric after fulling;

Fig. 16 is a cross-sectional view taken along line Iii-.4.6 of Fig. 5illustrating the condition of the fabric after f'ulling;

Figs. '17 and A18 are like Figs; 7: andi 8. respec- 3 tively butillustrate the condition of the fabric after fulling.

The felt of this invention is what is known as a Woven felt that can beproduced on conventional weaving machinery. In constructing endlessfelts or belts for handling of wet pulp, the yarn of which the felt iscomp-osed is woven in a suitable pattern into a fabric having both warpyarn and iilling yarn systems. After the felt is woven it is suitablyfulled or shrunk to size to compact the yarn and to give the feltsatisfactory body and surface support for pulp fibers and yet providefor satisfactory drainage of liquid away from the pulp.

In manufacturing endless felts or belts for handling of wet pulp, suchas papermakers felts, it is essential that the felt shall provide forwater drainage from the pulp during the service life of the felt, andwill give to the paper or board that is being produced a desired surfacefinish. It is also highly desirable that the felts shall have areasonable service life to prevent undue cost of replacement.

In the papermaking industry, woven felts in which both the warp yarnsystem and the filling yarn system are composed of all-wool yarns havebeen found to be satisfactory. However, there are certain conditions ofhigh physical abrasion that is greater than can be withstood by woolyarns to give a reasonable service life or" the felt. While all-woolfelts have been used in industries of high physical abrasi-on in thehandling of wet pulp, yet their replacement has been often and theircosthigh as a result.

It is therefore the purpose of this invention to produce a felt having awool surface finish that will give a reasonable service life in thosewet pulp handling industries in which high physical abrasion of the pulpon the felt is a serious problem. Such an industry is that of themanufacture of asbestos cement board.

Therefore, in this invention the felt is composed of woven warp andlling yarn systems wherein the systems are composed partly of anonfltting yarn and partly of a wool yarn or a wool yarn mixed withother bers such as nylon, but wherein the wool comprises the major partof the yarn to maintain the surface finish charlacteristics that aregiven to a felt by the wool fibers.

More particularly, the felt of this invention is composed of woven warpand filling yarn systems wherein the warp system consists of a non- Woolnon-felting yarn, preferably cotton, and the felting system is composedof a non-wool nonfelting yarn, preferably cotton, and a wool base yarn,or all-wool yarn, in which the two yarns in the filling system are laidin la regular repeating pattern so that the wool yarn, or wool baseyarn, will provide the surface finish yarn on at least one side of thefelt.

By constructing a felt in which the filling yarn system is composed atleast in part of a wool yarn or la Wool base yarn, the characteristicsof the wool fibers to give Isurface finish to the product are retained,and yet the strength characteristics of a non-wool non-felting yarn inthe filling and warp yarn systems are obtained. Thus, the benefit of thewool yarn is retained and the benet of .a non-wool yarn is gained.

It is also understood that in the manufacture of the felts, the fullingcharacteristics of the wool yarn are retained in the felt of thisinvention, as is the napping characteristic of the wool yarn, so that inthose felts that are desired to have a 4 napped surface to give a highsurface finish to the product, the nap surface can be obtained inregular wool napping machines.

In Figures 1, 5 and 9 there are illustrated three different weaves of awoven felt in which the warp yarns are non-wool non-f'elting yarns andthe filling yarn system is composed of a non-Wool nonfelting yarn and. awool or wool base yarn.

In Figure 1 the Warp yarns I0 are non-Wool yarns, preferably are co-ttonyarns since cotton imparts a high tensile strength to the finishedpro-duct. In the Weave of the felt of Fig, 1 the Warp yarn system is anall-non-wool system.

The filling yarn system consists of the iWool or Wool-base yarns ll andthe non-Wool yarns I2. The non-wool yarns l2 can be the same yarn thatis used in the warp yarn system, or they can be of .a differentcomposition to give to the lling yarn system the desired transversestrength.

The wool or wool-base yarns l l may be of wool yarn, or they may containother bers to add to the characteristics of the wool bers, such as nylonfibers. Nylon fibers added to the wool yarn increase the abrasiveresistence of the yarn, but a high percentage of nylon fibers cannot beused for the reason that an extremely high percentage of nylon fiberseliminates the fulling characteristics of the wool which must beretained to obtain the desired density of the finished felt.

The weave pattern of the Woven felt of Fig. 1 is shown in Fig. 2 whereinthe corresponding rows of filling yarns are indicated by letters.

It will be noted that in Fig. 1 the wool or `woolbase yarns l l arewoven through the warp yarns le in such a mannery that the wool yarns Ilbecome surface yarns on the upper surface of the felt while the woolyarns l la are woven through the warp yarns IU so that they becomesurface yarns on the opposite side of the felt. A nonwool yarn I2 iswoven through the warp yarns i0 between every other pair of wool yarnsll, lla.

In Fig. 5 there is illustrated another weave for a felt in which thewarp yarn system consisting of the warp yarns 2i) is composed ofnon-wool yarns.

The filling yarn system of the felt of Fig. 5 is composed of the woolyarns 2l and the non-wool yarn 22. Figure 6 illustrates the Weavepattern of the felt shown in Fig. 5 and corresponding filling yarn rowsare lettered With corresponding letters in the weave diagram of Fig. 6and the felt of Fig. 5.

In the felt shown in Fig. 5 it will be noted that the weave is such thatthe wool or wool-base yarns form the surface yarns on the top of thefelt. Thus, the back of the felt is composed substantially ofall-non-wool yarn.

Fig. 9 illustrates another weave of a felt in which the warp yarn systemconsists of the nonwool yarns 3 and the filling yarn system consists ofthe wool Yyarns 3l and the non-wool yarns 32.

From the foregoing it will be apparent that there are many weaves thatcan be used to obtain the benefits of this invention of making thefilling system partly of wool yarn or wool-base yarn and partly of anon-'wool yarn, such as cotton.

In Figs. 1 and 9 there is illustrated a method of placing a relativelylarge volume of Wool in the filling yarn system wherein the wool orwool-base yarns ll, Ha of Fig. 1 and the wool or woolbase yarns 3| ofFig. 9 are 'substantially larger in size than the non-wool yarns in thewarp and iilling systems of the particular weaves. By this arin thefilling yarn systems of the felts.

filling yarn give Way at the same time, whereas in the felt of thisinvention the :all-wool yarn may be abraded away without greatlyaffecting the non-wool yarns of the warp and filling systems that givethe felt its tensile strength in both directions.

When speaking of all-non-vvool yarns in this invention, preferablycotton yarn is to be Ico-nsidered, but other non-wool yarns are not tobe eliminated from consideration as being within the scope of theinvention. Also, when speaking of wool-baise yarns or wool-containingyarns, 'wool shall be considered the major part of the yarn which may beblended with other non-Wool yarns, such as nylon and others to givecertain specific added qualities to the Wool or wool-base yarn.

The invention has been described with reference to the use of non-woolyarns, or cotton yarns It has previously been considered impractical touse other than all-wool yarns in a felt for the reason that the non-woolyarns or cotton yarns do not have the fulling characteristics ofall-wool yarn. The woven felts are Woven with a relatively loose weaveand thereafter fulled or shrunk to size to give to the felt the properdegree of compactness and body. As for example, felts are shrunk as muchas 50% from the size of the original woven fabric. Thus, a felt Woven2004 wide will be fulled or shrunk to approximately 100 in width.

However, this applicant has discovered that by properly combining woolyarns and non-Wool yarns or cotton yarns in the filling yarn system offelts, the fulling characteristics of the wool yarns can beadvantageously retained, and yet obtain the advantage of the strength ofthe non- Wool or cotton yarns. It has been discovered that when thefilling yarn system contains both a Wool yarn and a non-wool or cottonyarn, that the wool yarn will full or shrink in exactly the same manneras would be expected. But the cotton yarn, or non-wool yarn, which doesnot have the same fulling characteristics as the wool yarn, will merelyloop across the warp yarns, but

without causing any tangling of the non-wool fill yarns with thenon-Wool warp yarns. Also, the loops of the non-wool fill yarns willstill remain below the surface of the fulled wool ll yarns so that asatisfactory Wool surface can be obtained on the felt. Thus, the feltscan have a filling yarn system in which a substantially nonfulling yarnand a fulling yarn are used.

In Figs. 13 and 15 there is illustrated the condition of the wovenfabric after fulling. It will be noted in Fig. 15 that the warp yarns I0have been drawn closer together by the shrinking of the fill wool yarnII which has also increased in size due to the fulling or shrinkingcharacteristic of the wool yarn. The upper surface is, therefore,substantially all-wool. The lower surface of the woven felt is alsoall-wool since the pattern repeats itself at the ll Wool yarn I Ia,shown in Fig. 1, but in reverse as compared to the pattern of the llwool yarns I I.

In Fig. 13 there is illustrated the eiect of the fulling or shrinking ofthe Wool ll yarns on the non-wool or cotton ll yarns. Here, the cottonfill yarn I2 is caused to loop over the Warp yarns .I0 because it doesknot full or shrink to the same extent as the wool yarns I I or IIa.Thus, the fill yarn I2 makes a pattern such as that shown in Fig. 13,but the surface of the yarn I2 is still below the surface of theadjacent wool yarns II, Ila.

In Figs. 16, 17 and 18 there is illustrated the Vresult of fulling orYshrinking of the felt carrying the weave shown in Fig. 5. In thisinstance, the wool yarns are all on the top of the felt and the non-wooland the cotton yarns constitute the Vback of the felt, thus giving acotton-backed felt. However, the looping effect of the non-wool orcotton yarns 22 is clearly shown in Fig. 16.

While specific forms of the invention are disclosed herein, yetmodifications can be made without departing from the spirit of theinvention, and those modifications that fall within the scope of theappended claims are intended to be included herein.

Having thus fully described our invention, what we claim as new anddesire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A Woven fulled wet pulp handling felt consisting of warp and fillingtextile yarn systems, said warp system consisting of all non-feltingtextile yarn and said filling system consisting of a non-felting textileyarn and a yarn composed in its major part of wool and substantiallylarger in size than the non-felting textile yarn and laid in a regularrepeating pattern with the wool yarn of the filling system comprising atleast 50% of the yarn of the lling system and with both yarns of thefilling system extending through the felt to both faces thereof.

2. A woven fulled wet pulp handling felt consisting of warp and fillingtextile yarn systems, said Warp system consisting of all cotton yarn andsaid filling system consisting of a cotton yarn and a yarn composed inits major part of wool and substantially larger in size than the cottonyarn and laid in a regular repeating pattern with the wool yarn of thefilling system comprising at least 50% o'f the yarn of the fillingsystem and with both yarns of the filling system extending through thefelt to both faces thereof.

JOHN P. KOESTER. HAROLD S. COMER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date Great Britain of 1885Great Britain of 18,80 Great Britain Nov. 27, 1924 Number Number

